Fatty acid specific δ13C values reveal earliest Mediterranean cheese production 7,200 years ago

Abstract

The earliest evidence for cheese production in the Mediterranean is revealed by stable carbon isotope analyses of individual fatty acids in pottery residues from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Lipid residue data indicate the presence of milk in the earliest pottery, Impressed Ware, by 5700 cal. BCE (7700 BP). In contrast, by 5200 cal BCE (7200 BP), milk was common in refined Figulina pottery, meat was mostly associated with Danilo ware, cheese occurred in Rhyta, and sieves contained fermented dairy, representing strong links between specific function and stylistically distinctive pottery vessels. Genetic data indicate the prevalence of lactose intolerance among early farming populations. However, young children are lactase persistent until after weaning and could consume milk as a relatively pathogen-free and nutrient rich food source, enhancing their chances of survival into adulthood. Fermentation of milk into yogurt and cheese decreases lactose content. The evidence for fermented dairy products by 5200 cal BCE indicates a larger proportion of the population was able to consume dairy products and benefit from their significant nutritional advantages. We suggest that milk and cheese production among Europe’s early farmers reduced infant mortality and helped stimulate demographic shifts that propelled farming communities to expand to northern latitudes.

Caprine mortality profiles from prehistoric cave‐sites of the northern Adriatic: Livestock strategies or natural death?

“…The caprine mortality pattern resembles more the theoretic model proposed by Payne () for milk exploitation, rather than those for meat and wool. Such scenario seems to be in agreement with the evidence of dairying coming from residue analysis carried out on Neolithic pottery of the area (Bonsall et al, ; McClure et al, ). However, two points have to be kept in mind: (i) mortality of class A individuals is quite high (it is twice the one predicted by the theoretic model in layer 2a) and (ii) the culling of perinatal individuals is unlikely because it is supposed that offspring of prehistoric caprine populations had to be kept alive to stimulate milk production by ewes, if milk was the target of production, or were culled at the reaching of their optimal body size if the target was meat (Halstead, ; Helmer & Vigne, , ; Payne, ; Serjeantson, ).…”

“…This does not mean that herders were not able to manage their flocks, it just means that the peculiar function of considered sites implies a more intense accumulation of skeletal elements related to selected age classes. In this perspective, the similarity between caprine age profiles and Payne's milk exploitation model, both characterised by a high mortality of younger individuals, can be the result of a bias, and milk exploitation could be better detected in such a site by chemical analysis of fatty residues on pottery (McClure et al, ). The aim of this brief contribution is just to stimulate the evaluation of foetuses in discussing mortality profiles of domesticates.…”

Steady transformation of primeval forest into subalpine pasture during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age (2300−1700 BC) in the Silvretta Alps, Switzerland

“…The practises of prehistoric, high-altitude livestock farming associated with vertical transhumance may have required the processing of milk and its eventual transformation into storable forms such as fresh or hard cheese (see also discussion in McClure et al, 2018). This process essentially relied on upland dairy production in simple dry stone structures (huts, enclosures) and formed the basis for trade of durable food products such as cheese or butter.…”

Paleodiet and health in a mass burial population: The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from Potočani, a 6,200‐year‐old massacre site in Croatia

“…Although Neolithic and Copper Age European farming populations were lactose intolerant, i.e., they did not possess the lactose tolerance allele that is found after ca. 3000 cal BC (Burger et al, 2007;Leonardi et al, 2012;Marciniak & Perry, 2017), farming populations in Croatia produced milk, yogurt, and cheese since at least the Middle Neolithic that people with lactose intolerance can digest (McClure et al, 2018).…”